Venue: Frauenkirche, Dresden

Les Arts Florissants performs Monteverdi's Seventh Book of Madrigals with a sense of spontaneity and flare at the Dresdner Musikfestspiele.

I often think you can tell the quality of an orchestra by looking at the back desks of its string sections, and the players on the fringes of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic play with as much vigour as those at the front; their joy in the music is both visible and audible. The result is a strong and complex string sound, well blended, but with a coolness you don’t get from most German orchestras.

Singing polyphonic music requires a specific sound. To be truly effective there must be a beautifully rounded and well blended choral sound, but at the same time the individual lines must be clearly decipherable within the overall texture. This is a balance that The Tallis Scholars seem to find effortless.

Die vier Bachkantaten verbreiteten in der Dresdner Frauenkirche in den Händen Gardiners und seiner Ensembles befreiende Freude.